Adopting a healthier lifestyle should be built around what we eat, we all know that. But, what are the essential healthy foods that we need to have in our fridge freezers to ensure that we’re getting all of the goodness that we need?

Good question! Read on to find out.

The essential healthy foods list for your fridge freezer

Fresh (or frozen) fruit

No surprises here. We could have listed them all individually, but that would have been a bore! You already know what you’ve got to do; keep it local whenever you can and make sure that you get a good mixture of colors if possible.

Fruit – along with the next staple on our list (no spoilers!) – is a great source of fiber, phytonutrients, vitamin C and a whole host of other good stuff that will get you well on your way to much healthier way of life.

Oh, and they all taste great, too!

So, whether you have a stock of out of season stuff in your freezer or in season fruits in your fridge, having them readily available means that you and your family are on the right track.

Fresh (or frozen) vegetables

Well, we never promised anything revelatory in the first couple of spots now did we? Might as well get the old favorites out of the way before we get to some that you may not have thought of before!

Let’s face it, veggies rock. They are so good for us it makes you wonder how we ever let the food industry persuade us that junk food is the better option.

Keep a good stock of green leafy veg, some wholesome roots and some colorful vine dwellers and you’ll never go far wrong.

Whether you juice, blend, chomp or sizzle, fresh veg will do you more good than almost anything else available to you. That’s why they’re up top on our essential healthy foods list.

Nuts

Nuts make a fantastic healthy alternative to all those sugary snacks that may commonly populate your pantry.

Not only that, they’re versatile too. You can throw them into your worktop blender when making smoothies, top off your morning cereal with them, throw them in a nut butter machine, or whizz up a plant-based beverage in a milk maker.

Whatever you decide to do with them, nuts will bring you good fats and stacks of minerals that can ward off a multitude of diseases.

Should you have a stock of almonds, walnuts, cashews, pistachios and other nutty goodness in your fridge? You’d be nuts not to!

Seeds

Just like they’re nutty cousins, seeds are another one of those essential health foods that we simply couldn’t leave off of our list.

Good for supplying the body with both protein and fibre, seeds should be a staple in your home.

The range of seeds that you can pick up is vast. From pumpkin to flax, chia to sunflower, these little health bombs are a fantastic way to pack a punch with a small package.

Lightly toast them in a pan and sprinkle over vegan salads, add them to your morning smoothie (see our Ninja professional blender reviews if you’re in need of a new machine), bake them into your artisan breads or just nibble away at them raw.

However you decide to take them, seeds are a great food to have to hand.

Plant-based milks

Dairy? No thanks. We’d rather see plant-based milks in the fridge any day.

The variety of plant-based milks that you can buy from almost any store nowadays is phenomenal. Rice, almond, oat, coconut, hemp and soy are a few of the most popular but you can also find some made with spelt or peas in some health food shops.

Despite what you may think, plant-based milks are relatively easy to make at home, too. Providing you have the right equipment and products, you can be whizzing up your own creamy goodness in no time at all. Check out our post on the best milkmakers to find out more!

Ginger

Although it is essentially a vegetable and could have wound up lost in amongst number two on our list, we thought that good old ginger deserved a spot all of its own.

This radical rhizome can be taken in a number of ways, and its health benefits are abundantly clear.

Known as a first-rate anti-inflammatory, ginger can help with conditions such as osteoarthritis and muscle pain. Its also been used for centuries to ease menstrual pain and is now thought to have anti-diabetic properties and could also help to prevent cancer when taken raw.

Many believe that ginger has anti-ageing properties too and that it can help enhance brain function.

Do you need any more reasons to make sure that you have some ginger in your fridge?

Fresh herbs

One thing that concerns some people about transitioning over to a vegan diet is that they won’t be able to get enough flavour into their food.

Well, let’s be honest, meat has to be seasoned pretty heavily before those who eat it consider it tasty, so what’s the difference?

Having a good selection of fresh herbs in your fridge, and even in the freezer, will mean that you’ll always have flavour to hand whenever you need it.

Add to that the fact that many fresh herbs have been used as remedies for all manner of ailments and some are now considered to be great at preventing numerous diseases, and it’s easy to see why fresh herbs are on happyhappyvegan.com’s essential health foods list.

Dried fruit

Dried fruit is much maligned in some circles thanks to its high sugar content, but it does serve a purpose when used sparingly.

Make sure that you read the label when purchasing things such as cranberries and blueberries as they will often have extra sugar added to them. Naturally, this is something that you’ll want to avoid.

Other dried fruits such as dates and raisins are great for snacking, baking or sprinkling and you’ll be amazed at how much refined sugar you can substitute out of your diet when you get to grips with using dried fruit instead.

Cooked beans

As with the grains above, ready cooked beans give you fantastic options when you want something fast.

You can, of course, also pre-make many dishes that include beans which store beautifully in both fridge and freezer.

Veggie chilli, homemade baked beans, soups, bean burgers, falafels – the list is endless, and it’s just as well because beans are an extremely healthy staple that we all should be eating every single day, regardless of what form they come in.

Hummus

What self-respecting vegan would go without hummus? In fact, what sane human being would go without the wonderful whizzed up chickpea concoction?

Hummus is a standard in any healthy fridge as chickpeas are little nutritional wonder-bullets and the middle eastern staple is now available in so many different flavors it really can appeal to absolutely anyone.

So, if you are looking for a quick and versatile alternative to sliced white, why not try some wholewheat pittas or tortillas instead?

Iced green tea

Now that we have discussed all that food we’re going to need something healthy to wash it all down with. Sure, you can’t go far wrong with water, but we wanted to end our list of essential healthy foods with something a little more exciting.

Enter iced green tea.

Green tea has so many benefits we had to write a whole article on them, but suffice to say that if you were only going to have one beverage to live on bar water, green tea would be an excellent choice.

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